Venezuela joined Japan as the only teams to finish unbeaten in World Baseball Classic pool play by defeating Israel 4-1 on Wednesday in Pool D action in Miami.
Eugenio Suarez went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs, Eduardo Escobar added a solo homer and Ronald Acuna Jr. had two hits, a stolen base and an RBI as Venezuela improved to 4-0.
Starter Jesus Luzardo (1-0) allowed four hits in four scoreless innings and struck out five batters.
Jakob Goldfarb’s seventh-inning RBI single broke up the shutout and Noah Mendlinger had three hits for Israel. Robert Stock (0-1) allowed three runs on four hits in three innings.
Cuba 4, Australia 3
Yoelkis Guibert delivered a two-run single in a pivotal three-run fifth inning to lead Cuba over Australia in a WBC quarterfinal game in Tokyo.
Cuba pitchers recorded 10 strikeouts and Miguel Romero (2-0) earned the win in relief for Cuba. Romero gave up just one hit and struck out two in 1 2/3 innings.
Rixon Wingrove went 2-for-3 and drove in all three of Australia’s runs, including a two-run home run in the sixth that brought the Aussies to within 4-3.
Australia right-hander Josh Guyer (0-1) took the loss, giving up two runs on one hit and two walks in one inning.
–Field Level Media
